Account for (soon to be) expat

VRoth

Hello everyone,

I am a British citizen who will soon be starting a new job with an American company in a third country. The vast majority of my salary will be paid in USD with a small amount extra being paid in local currency (the value of which has been volatile against international currencies of late).

I need to give HR the details of my bank account to pay me my USD salary. I am looking for advice as to whether I should have it paid into my UK account, or potentially set up a multi-currency account with a company such as Wise (Transferwise).

My concern about having it paid into my UK account is that I will incur the cost of my salary being changed into GBP each month and then further charges when I want to use that part of my salary in local currency. On the other hand, it seems that the Wise account offers me the opportunity to transfer money into GBP and local currency only as and when I need to (and within the same account), and a debit card which I can use in the UK, the country I am moving to and other locations that I might travel to, all relatively cheaply.

Any advice/insight/warnings any of you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

PRAISETHESUN

I'd definitely be arranging to be paid USD into a USD account, and you can then sort out converting it to GBP only as/when needed - I agree you don't want to be stung twice on fees by converting to GBP only to have to convert back to USD and/or local currency. Something like Wise would be perfect as it gives you a USD account and offers decent rates on conversion to GBP.  Another option would be to look into local banks in the country you are moving to, but I suspect that isn't necessarily a good idea given what you say about the local financial situation.

VRoth

Brilliant, thanks for your help!

Should I be concerned about keeping chunks of my salary in the Wise account given its not regulated as a bank account would be? 

Emmia

Another option could be the expat account from HSBC.

https://www.expat.hsbc.com/accounts/products/bank-account/

PRAISETHESUN

VRoth said:

Brilliant, thanks for your help!

Should I be concerned about keeping chunks of my salary in the Wise account given its not regulated as a bank account would be? 

I'd use Wise only as the vehicle to get paid and convert to whichever currency you need. There's no obligation to actually keep your money with them once the conversion is complete if you're worried about a lack of FSCS protection. 


You can keep savings long-term in GBP/USD accounts with deposit protection, like the HSBC account listed above. Fineco is another one that gets mentioned fairly regularly and I believe also has deposit protection from Italy.

colsten

Wise should be fine if you don't keep much money in there at any point in time. Fineco might be another option. They are covered by the Italian equivalent to FSCS and offer decent exchange rates, like Wise do.

I am not much of a fan of the HSBC multi-currency account. I tried it out a while ago - cumbersome to set up if you are not already an HSBC customer, no debit card, unattractive exchange rate etc. The only real thing it has going for it is FSCS cover.

VRoth

Oooh, Fineco hasn't yet come up in my research so thank you both for that tip in particular!

colsten

@VRoth link to me HSBC Currency Account review: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6269184/quick-review-of-hsbc-euro-account

In that thread, there is also mention of HSBC's plans to launch a Global Money Account sometime this year, as an improvement over their existing Currency Account. Worth keeping an eye on developments.